With all the things going on in the world today, sometimes it’s tempting to procrastinate on important things. I recently received my annual expat health/medical insurance renewal reminder and, of course, I put off handling the renewal until tomorrow. But now it’s been taking up space in my inbox for a few days (and I try to keep my inbox completely clear by sorting or replying to messages as soon as they arrive) I will handle it.

About five years ago I searched long and hard until I found an international health coverage provider I was happy with. And I can report that I’m very satisfied with the service I’ve received from offshore brokerage Expat Medical Insurance and their primary underwriter, Multinational Underwriters.

Although Multinational Underwriters are based in Indiana, USA, the policy I have doesn’t actually cover me for the USA and Canada. As specialists in the international health insurance business, they don’t sell their medical insurance policies to US or Canadian residents – they do however have the option for coverage in the USA and Canada if you are visiting there. And of course US and Canadian expat citizens are very welcome and are a large part of this company’s clientele.

I also went for a high excess on my policy ($2,500). This means the insurance cover is excellent value. Dare I say it, cheap! It is there for real energencies and I know I can rely on fast service s well as a free choice of the best hospitals anywhere in the world. At the same time, I’m not subsdizing hypochondriacs who visit their G.P. every month and make a claim for it. And I’m not paying for the stratospheric costs of healthcare in the US and Canada which I rarely visit anyway.

Places I live offshore it is cheap to visit a doctor for a regular consultation… between about $5 and $40 depending on the doctor. I just got a load of dental work done for $35. So it’s much easier just to pay for incidentals like this in cash, not have the hassles of making small claims, but still have the reassurance of the critical coverage if I or a family member really need it.

Anyway, another reason I decided to write about Health Insurance today was an announcement that came through from Multinational Underwiters that they are changing their name. As from 1st July they will be part of HCC global.

To quote:

We do want to stress to the vigor the HCC name brings to our products and services. In the current economic climate, there isn’t a better time to stand behind our strengths. As we see competitors wane due to economic stresses of the insurance business, HCC Insurance Holdings continues to grow its market share and status. We provide security for
clients by showcasing the following:

• Rated AA (Very Strong) by Standard & Poor’s
• AA (Very Strong) by Fitch Ratings
• A+ by A.M. Best
• Shareholders’ equity of $2.7 billion
• Assets of $8.6 billion
• Forbes Magazine named HCC Insurance Holdings one of 130 companies worldwide as a Global High Performer.

The actual insurance offered by this company is underwritten by Lloyds of London. which provides accident and health insurance to over 1,000,000 people in over 100 countries. Lloyd’s currently enjoys an ‘A’ (Strong) rating from Standard and Poor’s.

I don’t tell you all this to bore you with statistics, but simply to point out that this combination of HCC Global and Lloyds of London gives you the strength of two major companies from both sides of the Atlantic. The administration of HCC Global has direct settlement agreements with many top hospitals worldwide, particularly in Latin America (Mexico, Panama etc). But even where they don’t have settlement agreements, you don’t need to worry as they will take care of bills.

What you should have however (especially if you go for the high deductible like I do, but anyway it’s good policy) is good working credit cards so in case of emergency you can reassure a local hospital for initial costs. I would say having $5000 always available by credit card is a good idea. That may sound easy but many banks these days put daily limits on credit cards, even gold cards, which could mean in a dire emergency you are trying to call a bank on the other side of the world in the middle of the night trying to get them to raise yor daily limit, even though you might have funds available. Not a nice prospect!

I say ‘working’ credit cards because some banks are more reliable than others. My wife has a regular credit card from one of the biggest banks in the world, and sometimes authorizations are declined due to technical problems. It took about 6 months for them to get the Chip-and-PIN system working right. That is NOT what I call a ‘working’ credit card.

One bank I can recommend that issues working credit cards and puts absolutely no daily limits on spending is the bank we work with in Cyprus. We can arrange introductions to this bank free of charge for Q Wealth Members, who will also find further details in the Practical Offshore Banking Guide.

Anyway, for your international health insurance take a look at Expat Medical. You can check rates online without any obligation to provide personal details. You will also find more information on their health insurance for international students and  life insurance policies for expats.

With all the fuss going on about Swiss banking right now, many people might have overlooked the fact that you can simply move to Switzerland and live virtually tax-free, legally, and without being subject to notoriously strict Swiss immigration controls. How? Through the Italian tax haven enclave of Campione d’Italia – a little part of Italy, with some very special personal tax concessions, that functions like a part of Swiss territory.

“The first pure haven I remember reading about was Campione D’Italia, a village sized city on the shores of Lake Lugano in Switzerland and the first person I ever heard write or talk about Campione was Harry Schultz, publisher of the Harry Schultz International Newsletter” writes  Roger Gallo of Escape Artist. “Harry Schultz was the only one around at that time who was using the then uncommon word, ‘international’ when he spoke, and he was also the only one who was writing for an American audience who seemed to know all of the offshore secrets, and he knew scores of them.  He was years ahead of almost everyone else in writing about asset protection and he was the first to write about offshore investing. Harry has been publishing his newsletter for 41 years and it still very much garners the respect of most of the current lineup of hotshot investment gurus.”

Campione d’Italia is a small Italian commune of 1.7 square kilometres located entirely within Switzerland, on the eastern shore of Lake Lugano at the foot of a beautiful mountain. There are approximately 3,000 inhabitants, about 1,000 of them foreigners. The official currency is the Swiss Franc, but the Euro is accepted as well. All banking is done through Swiss banks. A famous Casino generates substantial revenue, which is one of the reasons why the residents of Campione enjoy some very special tax concessions.

Campione’s tax advantages only apply to private persons resident in Campione, and not to companies domiciled or managed from there (except that there is no VAT in Campione, which I suppose is a big advantage for companies)

How can you obtain a residence permit in Campione? You must normally buy an apartment or a house – simply because there is very rarely the opportunity to rent. Currently, however, I know of an opportunity to obtain a residence permit by renting. A client of mine is privately renting one of the nicest fully furnished, ultra modern duplex apartments in Campione Switzerland for EUR 2900 per month. It is located on the only sand beach with palm trees that we know of, in Ticino (what my client calls the “Banana Belt of Switzerland”). The deal is you pay one year in advance and that includes the right to Swiss & EU residency. He’s also prepared to sell at EUR 365,000. For more information contact me via info@petermacfarlane.net and I’ll put you in touch.

To sum up some of the many advantages of being resident in Campione d’Italia:

* Political, social and economic stability
* First-class Swiss infrastructure
* Swiss Franc is the official currency
* Banking through Swiss banks with Swiss banking secrecy
* Attractive lifestyle in a quiet, clean environment
* Efficient and reliable public services
* Swiss postal services, telephone numbers and car registration plates
* Effectively resident in Switzerland – with E.U. residence permit
* No value added tax (VAT)
* Special income tax concessions, no inheritance or gift tax

Interested in reading more like this? Every quarter, The Q Wealth Report covers material related to living the good life in tax havens around the world, protecting your assets in first class private banks. Right now, our focus is on How to Buy and Hide Gold Offshore. We are also publishers of the Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2009. Learn more at The Q Wealth Report homepage, or sign up today for our free 5-day e-mail course: The Secrets of the Super Rich

by Peter Macfarlane, Joint Editor of The Q Wealth Report

I talk to people every day who are dismal. It would be easy to get depressed myself. Snow might be beautiful to some, but the humid grey skies that have been covering much of the northern hemisphere lately don’t inspire happiness in most of us. But I think it’s the economic doom and gloom that is really causing the serious pain and sending people scurrying to protect their remaining assets, or to find warmth and companionship (Funny side note, A recent survey found that Expats are most likely to fall in love in sub-zero Germany..)

As a general principle I firmly believe that health and happiness are essential ingredients in success and international wealth creation. You must be at ease with yourself before you can do anything useful. If you are depressed or desperate, you are likely to fail. Healthy, happy, positive people are the ones who make money. After all, what is wealth? It’s health, happiness and prosperity.

I’m not, however, into positive thinking psycho-babble and cookie cutter self improvement ideas. I’m a realist, an offshore banker by profession. Every now and then, it’s good to look back on what is wrong in our lives. That’s the only way to learn from bad experiences and change things for the better. Some of us work better than others under pressure or to deadlines – but all of us have to go through difficult times and learn how to react to create success and wealth.

It’s impossible to avoid being depressed sometimes. The question is how to get over it…. how to come out ahead. Q Wealth’s property tycoon and forex guru Thomas Bolther writes that “Anyone can become a tycoon if they dare to cut off some security and clean up their lives. It is a hard road but it is a road that makes you strong and eventually very rich as you will one day hit a gold mine.”

I agree with Thomas to an extent, but it seems to me that many people cling to a false sense of security. Jobs are a typical example. How many millions of people who thought they had secure jobs have discovered otherwise over just the past few months? Now they are being forced to make radical changes. These are testing times. If they had made contingency plans earlier, would they have felt more secure?

I’ve been making radical changes too. My significant other and I had to make the difficult decision last week to close a side business we’ve been running for the last five years. It’s just a small case in the global big picture, but I’m going to lose all the money I invested and I’m having to put people out of work, which is always very hard going. The problem was that the business was simply not making money, but was creating a lot of work, stress and headaches for us.

In cases like this the pure positive thinker might soldier on, working for free, believing things have to get better one day. But no, you can’t do that. It would be a mistake. It’s better to cut losses and move on to something new. Failure is nothing to be ashamed of – this crisis caught us all by surprise. For me, putting positive energy into existing or new successful projects makes much more sense than having energy sucked out of me by a business that’s on the rocks.

Getting rid once and for all of this side business will free up a lot of time for new, more enjoyable activities. We always enjoy travel and experiencing new places, new cultures, new international lifestyles and new culinary experiences. Well, this difficult decision is going to allow us to travel more, too, living closer to the true PT (Perpetual Traveler or Permanent Tourist) lifestyle.

For the last few years I’ve been the typical business traveler – something I have come to hate. I go to get things done but don’t have time for fun. I can’t enjoy the places I am visiting. Now, I can take my young family with me, go for a month or two to Montevideo,  Uruguay, look forward to a few summer months in Europe, and may be we will go to explore China together as a family, which is something we’ve been planning and dreaming of for the last five years.

Some people question the wisdom of travelling with young kids, taking them out of school etc. I couldn’t disagree more. Travel is the best education that money can’t buy. My children are already fluent in English and Spanish and talk about bush fires in Australia or schools in Japan like some kids might talk about what’s going on in the next classroom. They are so easy going. Kids are just so much more flexible than us grown-ups. To children, everything is possible. They haven’t yet learned to impose limits and restrictions on themselves. If they fall down, they just get up and carry on. We all need to think like children.

Fortunately my business – writing and consulting – can be run from anywhere there’s an internet connection. But so many more businesses these days can be run in a similar manner. I know forex and options traders, internet marketers, e-commerce guys and even real estate gurus who travel the world, learning new things, living the international jet set life, and opening their minds – while making money.

For those without a real portable trade, real estate investing is something fairly simple, that most people understand. And if you have a relatively small amount of money, you can make a lot in real estate now. There will be an article on this in issue 52 of The Q Wealth Report, due out in mid February.

Of course, the rules of the game have changed completely. You can pretty much forget about bank financing, though if you are one of the lucky few who qualify it is very cheap at the moment. But if you want to buy up some land and start building, the cost of materials like steel and concrete has fallen by half… and whereas a year or two ago you had to beg artisans to come to work for you, now they will beg you for work.

Latin America is my playground for the moment and I just see so much opportunity around here today. Latin Americans tend to take financial crises in their strides. They’ve been there, done that. Put bluntly, they are used to living in poverty, used to not getting loans. So it’s no big deal for them. Whether you are in Ecuador or Mexico, Panama or Uruguay, the recession is not hitting so hard. Plus, it’s hard to be depressed when you are living cheap in a tropical paradise.

And right now, if you are lucky enough to have US dollars, your money is going a very long way. There is some urgency to this situation as I’m sure the US dollar will collapse pretty soon, and it has a very long way to fall. Not sure where to start looking for these opportunities? For International Real Estate Offshore World is good, as is Escape Artist.

Anyway, I’ve gone on much longer than intended today. If you’ve found this article useful, and you are not yet a subscriber to Q Bytes our free newsletter on International Living and Wealth Creation, then I strongly recommend you go ahead and sign up right now. It’s free. And not just that, we’ll also give you our five part e-mail course Secrets of the Super Rich covering offshore banking, international finance, asset protection and wealth creation.

by Peter Macfarlane for The Q Wealth Report

“Organize your time better” say the gurus. Thousands of different productivity tools exist to help you make better use of your time. But time isn’t everything.

Recently, at the Recipes for Success Wealth Creation event in Panama, I was chatting with Paul Rosenberg about some ongoing projects. He told me that he doesn’t organize his work schedule according to time, but instead according to inspiration. When Paul told me that, I had one of those moments that Americans call “epiphanies” and where us Brits say “the penny dropped.”

Why? Because this is what I have always done myself, but I had not been 100% aware of it. Now I’m aware, I can better harness the power of this wealth creation secret.

All of us have different moods, good days and bad days. For pure productivity, we have machines or computers. But we humans rule the world because of our creativity. And creativity depends on inspiration. In fact, creativity is inspiration. Inspiration, to paraphrase my dictionary, means breathing new life into something. That’s exactly what we do when we create.

So creativity is something to be nurtured at all costs. Our creativity is strongest when we are relaxed and healthy. Relaxation is best achieved by knowing and controlling where your life will take you next – but certain bodily techniques such as exercise and diet can help. Remember: if you want to create wealth, then obviously you need to be in a creative mood… and this requires inspiration.

Richard Cawte has another way of putting it: “your ships come in over a calm sea.” If your mind is a sea of worry, the ships bringing your treasures won’t be able to get into the harbor. But when your mind is calm, cool and creative, those ships carrying your future wealth will dock safely in port.

For this reason, successful wealth creators don’t work hard, and they don’t worry. When you feel inspired to do something, get to work on it right away. Doesn’t matter what time of day it is, or what else you have to do. When you are keen on something you will be productive, creative and successful. Leave your deadlines with enough flexibility to accommodate inspirations.

Equally, when you don’t feel like doing something, don’t force yourself…. because it probably won’t work anyway. If you don’t feel like working, don’t. Instead, go off and do something else. Dedicate your mind to something totally different – “a change is as good as a rest,” they say. The best business networking, for example, usually happens in the places you are least expecting it.

So that, in a few words, is my take on how to schedule your working day to generate success in your business and personal life. Don’t schedule tasks by time, but by inspiration. That way, wealth creation will take care of itself. And instead of using those business productivity tools designed to help you make more efficient use of your time, sign up if you haven’t already for one that’s designed to help you make more efficient use of your inspirations! It’s called the Q Wealth Report and you can join online right now to benefit from the full wisdom of successful experts like Richard Cawte and Paul Rosenberg. Sign up right now, before you forget!

As far back as 1999, a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics concluded: “We believe that reducing television viewing should become a population health priority.”

A group of Oxford University researchers have found that kids who have television sets in their bedrooms are much more likely to sleep less than those who do not.  On average they are deprived of a month’s sleep per year.  A whole month’s sleep in every year.

It might surprise you to learn that children who do not get enough sleep are more than twice as likely to end up smoking, drinking alcohol and using drugs by the age of 12 to 14.

Watching television before going to bed – or worse still watching it when we are in bed – in itself actively reduces our chances of a good night’s sleep

Here are ten reasons to throw away your TV:

1) Television makes us fatter.

2) Television decreases our ability to think for ourselves.

3) Television weakens our self-esteem.

4) Television removes our sense of cultural identity.

5) Television depletes our immune system.

6) Television deprives us of sleep.

7) Television affects our sex life.

Television creates fear, not peace.

9) Television decreases our respect for senior citizens.

10) Television is directly linked with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

How much television do you watch?  How much do your children watch?  Should we all be paying much closer attention to the amount of television we are exposed to?

Television, the Silent Killer in your Living Room is a full e-book that will tell you all you need to know.  All of the claims are supported by scientific research from major bodies. This is a book that you must read, whether you have children or not…and I urge you to tell your friends and family about it too.

Further information at www.richardcawte.com

Note: Richard Cawte is founder and joint editor of The Q Wealth Report. Please also see Q Wealth Report issue 43 (available for download in the Members Area) for an indepth study of the dangers of television.

Spain, France and Germany are listed as the best locations for expats to raise their children, according to the findings of the second report of three in the Expat Explorer survey, “Offshore Offspring.”

Expat parents were asked to rate their host country in five areas:

* Time their children spent outdoors
* Time their children spent studying
* Cost of raising children
* Number of languages spoken by their children
* Whether their children would remain in the country

Spain, India and China are the cheapest countries in which to raise children, with half (55%, 50% and 50% respectively) of expats living in these countries reporting they experienced reduced costs for their children compared to their country of origin. The survey also revealed that finance capitals are the most expensive countries in which to raise children.

Almost half (44%) of expats reported that their children spent more time outdoors in their adopted countries. The Mediterranean and countries with wide open spaces scored highly in this category – Australia came top of the table, where more than three-quarters (80%) of parents reported that their children spent more time outdoors, followed by Spain (59%) and France (57%).

A third of parents overall said that their children study more since becoming expats, with more than half (56%) reporting that it remained about the same. Expatriate children in India topped the table, with two-thirds (67%) studying more now than before, followed by children in France (57%) and Singapore (42%).

Children living in European countries learn the greatest number of languages. Spain had the highest percentages of expat children speaking languages, with almost all (94%) speaking two or more languages.

The full report by HSBC Bank International gives the primary expat countries the following overall rankings:

1. Spain
2. France
3. Germany
4. Canada
5. Singapore
6. US
7. Australia
8. India
9. China
10. Belgium
11. Hong Kong
12. Netherlands
13. UK
14. UAE

The survey questioned 2,155 expatriates living in over 48 countries, however only countries with at least 30 respondents were analysed in the league tables.

Source: Lowtax.net

Note: Q wealth Expert Peter Macfarlane also runs a blog on lowtax.net, which is an excellent resource for those seeking to know more about offshore jurisdictions.

Take Your Water Bottle With You When You Leave Your Car

by James B. LaValle

You know that water bottle you carry with you everywhere? Or the bottles you use to feed your baby? If they’re plastic, they could be making you or your baby very sick. Fortunately, there’s one easy step you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones from the “toxic” effects of plastic.

The bottles you use may contain bisphenol A (BPA), an “endocrine disrupter” used to add strength to clear plastics. BPA can mimic, mask, or interfere with the effects of the body’s natural hormones. It’s been linked to prostate and breast cancer, and to neurological disorders in children.

The growing body of evidence was sufficient for the U.S. government to issue a warning: “the possibility that bisphenol A may alter human development cannot be dismissed.” The Canadian government went further, listing BPA as a toxic substance, and banning the use of polycarbonate baby bottles. Children are exceptionally vulnerable to BPA because they are still growing and developing, but adults are also at risk.

But there’s one simple thing you can do right now to safeguard your family’s health. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati found high temperatures from exposure to boiling water produced a 40-fold increase in the rate of BPA release, regardless of the bottle’s age.

So don’t heat that plastic. Microwave your beverages and food in glass or ceramic dishes. Never heat plastic baby bottles, and wash your plastic containers by hand to avoid the high temperatures in your dishwasher.

And take that water bottle with you when you leave your car in the hot sun.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

by Jacques Haeringer for The Q Wealth Report

Does fruit make you fat? That’s a question we have, incredibly, been asked a lot of late! The answer: It depends on what you mean by fruit. (Sounds like President Clinton) Actually, like everything else, it is a question of balance!

For most healthy people, fruit and freshly made fruit juices, as well as dried fruits are a very healthful addition to the diet. Those with Diabetes and digestive issues should consult their physicians.

Fruits contain many minerals, vitamins, enzymes and natural fruit sugars that are easily absorbed and utilized by the body. Fruit also contains essential fiber which helps stabilize digestive function.

The problem is with pre-made and pre-packaged, canned, processed and sweetened fruit and fruit juices which have lost much of their nutritional value through heating. Even freshly made fruit juices begin to deteriorate and lose nutritional value very rapidly due to oxidation. Denatured fruit is therefore much less bioavailable and therefore unbalanced. The concentration of fruit sugars without the other vital properties could certainly contribute to weight gain.

Enjoy good health with pure whole fresh fruit. Two or three apples or servings of other fresh fruit a day will keep the doctor and weight away.

Note: Nutrition expert and Chef Jacques Haeringer has written a detailed article entitled To Your Health for issue 51 of The Q Wealth Report, because health is an essential part of wealth and well-being. He will also be making a presentation at Recipes for Success, the ultimate guide to healthy and wealthy living, in Panama this November. For further details of Recipes for Success, click here.

If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the secrets of youth and beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.

We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it and just popping it into our mouths. But it’s not so easy as you think!

What is the correct way of eating fruits?
Fruits should be eaten on an empty stomach, not after meals!

If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

Let’s say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestine, but it is prevented from doing so.

In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.

So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining – every time I eat water-melon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats up, when I eat banana I feel like running to the toilet etc – actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!

Another thing: it’s not true that some fruits like orange and lemon are acidic. All fruit becomes alkaline in our body.

When you need to drink fruit juice – drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT From the cans. Don’t even drink juice that has been heated up (most juice you buy in cartons has been pasteurized, that is heated). Don’t eat cooked fruits because you don’t get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste. Cooking destroys all the vitamins.

But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it.

You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!

Here are some details on specific fruits:

KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, Vitamin E & fibre . Its Vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.

APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away?
Although an apple has a low Vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of Vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.

STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit.
Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessels-clogging free radicals.

ORANGE : Sweetest medicine.
Taking 2 -4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent and dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.

WATERMELON: Coolest Thirst Quencher Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost
our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene – the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are Vitamin C & Potassium.

GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for Vitamin C.
They are the clear winners for their high Vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fibre, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.

Drinking Cold water after meal = Cancer! Can u believe this??

For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you .
I t is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.

Once this ‘sludge’ reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the
intestine.

Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to Drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

More “Q Health” tips soon… because health is a very important part of Wealth!

“Red wine may be much more potent than was thought in extending human lifespan, researchers say in a new report that is likely to give impetus to the rapidly growing search for longevity drugs.”

So says  an interesting article in today’s International Herald Tribune on the anti-aging effects of red wine.

Pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline has just bought, for $720 million, a startup called Sirtris whicxh was founded in 2004 to cary out research into anti-aging. It is said that the research is based on an ancient biological survival mechanism, called resveratrol, present in red wine. This switches the body’s resources from fertility to tissue maintenance. The improved tissue maintenance seems to extend life by cutting down on the degenerative diseases of aging.

Apparently mice in tests would have had to take the equivalent of 100 bottles of red wine each per day (!) to see results in initial tests… but finally scientists have caught on to the fact that  red wine contains many other resveratrol-like compounds that may also be beneficial.

Maybe the conclusion of all this, and what GlaxoSmithKline will learn for their $720 million, is that we can better just drink a glass or two of red wine a day and forget about trying to put wine in capsule form?